Fischer, Susanne, Kleinstäuber, Maria, Fiori, Laura M et al. · Psychosomatic medicine · 2023 · DOI
This review looked at research on DNA changes in people with ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, and irritable bowel syndrome. Scientists found that people with these conditions have different patterns of chemical switches on their genes compared to healthy people, particularly in genes that control immune function and stress response. These differences may help explain why people with ME/CFS experience fatigue, pain, and other symptoms.
This systematic review is important because it synthesizes evidence that ME/CFS and related conditions involve measurable biological changes in DNA methylation—providing molecular support for the organic nature of these illnesses. Understanding these epigenetic mechanisms may eventually lead to biomarkers for diagnosis and new treatment targets. It also reinforces that ME/CFS is not purely psychological and warrants investigation as a disease with identifiable cellular and immune dysfunction.
This review does not prove that DNA methylation changes cause ME/CFS symptoms or that these changes are specific to ME/CFS rather than secondary consequences of illness. The studies reviewed are correlational, not causal, and the review cannot establish whether methylation changes precede disease onset or develop as a result of chronic illness. Additionally, findings of differential methylation do not directly explain the mechanisms linking epigenetic changes to symptom severity or disease progression.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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